Review: A Quiet Night

Items were received by Kara's Way complimentary.

There's nothing quite like relaxing with a good candle and getting a massage and I'm quite the fan. Especially since when I get stressed out, I find myself requesting a massage. One thing that has been slightly annoying is that we ignore the massage oils because they are in general terrible and just opt for shea butter (or cocoa butter). So when Kara's Way provided me with a traveler sized bottle of Mbeze body oil and a candle from Aloha Bay, I figured it would be great to make an event of it.

I reviewed a few perfumes from Mbeze back in December (which you can read about here), so I'm no stranger to the products. The Koko Haze is one of my favourite scents since it's coconut, hazelnut, with hints of mango tea and sweet orange essential oil.

As it's a body oil, you don't necessarily need to just use it as a massage oil (though it will likely replace any massage oils that you might have). It's great for dry skin but given that it's an oil, there will be the initial greasiness when it's first applied. The bright side is that it is absorbed quickly so it's not that you'd be doomed to a greasy state.

Ah... now for the candle. I love candles and getting one makes me happy especially since I got one of my favourite scents. These candles are made with Eco Palm Wax which is an  organic Palm Wax from Brazil and Colombia. The company itself seems to be very well informed and overall seems to care quite a bit about their product. You can check out their website to see a wealth of information about their candles and fair trade practices.

The particular candle I got was a perfume blend and I can't really find much about the ingredients but they do have the option to buy candles that are made with pure essential oils. The reason why I bring this up is that the candle is highly scented and it is a pure coconut scent (it doesn't smell like fake coconut or super sugary) -- it has the right blend which makes it wonderful to have nearby (in fact, as I'm typing this, I have it lit right now).

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These products are slated to be featured in an upcoming Kara's Way box and was given to me complimentary for my evaluation.

Product: Mbeze Body Oil in Koko Haze
Price: $5
Stars: ★★★★☆
Takeaway: A great body oil that doubles for a massage oil. I imagine that you can likely add a bit to a bath to really immerse yourself in it. I generally don't use oils aside from massages (and for that it is great) so I don't have much use outside of that.

Product: Aloha Bay Travel Jar in Bahia Coconut
Price: $3
Stars: ★★★★★
Takeaway: I love candles, but I especially adore when they are a right balance. The scent level is perfect and the company seems to have good practices. 

Review: Mbeze Koko Haze & Ife Samples

You've probably noticed a lack of perfume on this blog. I don't like a lot perfume and there's no commentary about scents or anything like that... It's because it gives me headaches and sometimes I don't react all that well to them. For a while, I switched to hypoallergic types of perfumes but the headaches remain. So I made the switch to perfume oils. BPAL has notoriously been one of my favourite brands for oils. I was super excited when Maria gave me some samples from Mbeze to try out.

Some quick notes about the Mbeze samples. You can't really take of the tag or else you won't know which one you have. They really ought to stick a small sticker with the name of the perfume on the vial itself rather than appending a tag to it which can easily get lost. Also, the vial is very classic like in the sense that it doesn't have a dabber on the stopper (that elongated piece attached to the stopper so that you don't have to apply it with your fingers). None of these are deal breakers, they are just things that would be nice to have. 

Onto the scents! Coconut is one of my favourite scents (of all time. Well, aside from vanilla) so I was happy when she gave me the Koko Haze. Koko Haze is a mixture of coconut, hazelnut, with hints of mango tea and sweet orange essential oil. When I first applied it, it has a grassy scent -- it seems a bit off (not bad, just not as per the description) but as with all oils, you need to give it time to really work it's way in. Over the day, the scent works it's way in and becomes a warm coconut with toasty hazelnuts. It comes off as being a bit light but eventually fades by the end of the day.

Ife, well, when I first put it on I did enjoy the scent but I couldn't figure it out. I was quite perplexed since it was a light scent, a bit tropical it seemed, but more citrus. A few hours later, the scent worked it's way in to give off a light hint of strawberry. It turns out that it's a mix of strawberry with African musk and sandalwood.

The scent of Ife tends to wear out quickly and leaves behind hints of citrus. Or some kind of airy scent -- it's kind of hard to place but overall it doesn't quite match it's description.

I'm definitely a fan of the Koko Haze since I'm biased toward the scent of coconuts even though it fades. The Ife I'm on the fence about since it starts off on an interesting tone but wears down quickly. Each day I tried it, I nearly forgot that I was wearing it by the end of the day.

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These products were part of the November Kara's Way box and was given to me complimentary for my evaluation.

Product: Mbeze Koko Haze & Ife Samples
Price: $2.50 each.
Would Recommend? Maybe.
Takeaway: The scents don't quite last which is unusual for an oil. Nonetheless the scents are nice -- I love the Koko Haze but Ife is a bit puzzling since it doesn't match it's description. Ife tends to wear out much faster than the Koko Haze which is why I'm on the fence. The latter was a stronger performer than the former so I think it's a matter of whether you want to take the risk on a scent or not.